Sophomore reserve Wyatt Oliver’s basket with just 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter Saturday, which brought Montezuma-Cortez level with Ignacio at 55-55, was dramatic enough. But Michael Hall’s bench had more in store, making the 3A Intermountain/Southern Peaks League District Tournament’s boys’ third-place battle truly memorable.
With 0:12.4 remaining and the score still tied, M-CHS had a chance to inbound and run a play to perhaps win in regulation, but IHS senior Phillip Quintana deflected the Panthers’ pass into the hands of sophomore teammate Ambrose Valdez, who hustled the ball toward the opposite basket. Bobcat head coach Chris Valdez then called a timeout with 0:05.4 left and Ignacio managed to inbound to Valdez on the near left wing.
Valdez quickly let fly a 3-pointer which swished through the net, but the referee closest to the play whistled him for a travel, giving Montezuma-Cortez one last chance with 2.5 seconds left. Hall ordered freshman Asher Bennetts to inbound from IHS’ side of midcourt, and Bennetts found an unlikely, but unguarded recipient downcourt, standing a few feet behind the 3-point arc on the right wing.
Catching Bennetts’ pass with his back to the basket, Panther sophomore reserve Trace Hartsoe spun to his right and without a second thought heaved up a high-arcing trey as Bayfield High School briefly went silent. As time expired, however, the gym exploded in cheers as Hartsoe’s buzzer-beater proved perfect, swiping M-CHS a 58-55 victory.
Having trailed the ’Cats ever since the first quarter, which ended with Ignacio up 14-11, Montezuma-Cortez improved to 8-13 overall with the stunner. Ignacio fell to 8-14 overall with the loss.
Able to close to 14-13 during the second quarter, the Panthers went into halftime trailing 25-17 after a long Valdez two-pointer assisted by Quintana. It was just IHS’ second make from inside the perimeter, as opposed to its intimidating seven from deep. Held to just one long-range make before intermission, M-CHS got into the act during the third quarter, with junior Caidin Leonard connecting twice and totaling 10 of the team’s 12 points.
Helped by senior Trajan Garcia netting his second 3-pointer of the game, however, Ignacio still held the upper hand, 36-29, after three quarters, but Montezuma-Cortez quickly began fighting back in the fourth. Freshman Trey Hall, who’d made M-CHS’ only first-half 3-pointer, drained another bringing the Panthers back to 40-37, and Leonard would cash two free throws cutting the Bobcats’ lead down to 46-44.
Senior center Gabe Cox responded with two free throws, and the ’Cats were able to rebuild their lead back up to 54-46 after senior Devante Montoya scored a layup with 2:18 remaining. Leonard restarted M-CHS’ rally with a three, enabling Hall to use a timeout with 1:31 left and the Panthers down by five.
With 0:43.7 left, M-CHS closed to 54-53 when senior Easton Hartsoe rebounded a missed Oliver layup and, almost unguarded, put it in before Valdez made one of two free throws at the other end. From the charity stripe, Ignacio ended up 6-of-12 during the final frame and 7-of-18 for the game.
Montezuma-Cortez, on the other hand, was a perfect 8-of-8 during the fourth quarter, 12-of-12 during the second half and 16-of-20 overall. Leonard missed just one of his six tries en route to totaling a game-high 21 points (18 after halftime). Trey Hall finished with 10 points and Trace Hartsoe (4-4 FT) nine.
Valdez (2-4 FT), sophomore Trace Crane (3 3-PTR) and Quintana (2 3-PTR; 1-6 FT) each totaled 11 points for the Bobcats in defeat.
AFTERMATH: Ignacio was given the No. 31 seed and will next face Denver-based No. 2-seed Bishop Machebeuf on the 1st at 5 p.m. Unbeaten in regular-season Mile High League play and champion of the six-team Mile High/Foothills District Tournament, the Buffaloes stand 20-1 (after going 15-7 last season) overall – not a good omen for the Bobcats, which went just 2-7 in February.
